Newberry, S.C. - The Newberry College men's and women's tennis programs put together an impressive outing over the weekend at the ITA Southeast Regional Tournament in Sumter, S.C. that will conclude with Nastassia Chamoun and Lucy Spice playing for the women's doubles title on Monday at 8:30 a.m. at the Palmetto Tennis Center. The singles draws featured 96 player fields while the doubles draws featured 48 doubles teams for both men and women.
"We are having a historic weekend at the regional tournament, and we are very pleased with how hard our guys and girls have competed so far," said assistant coach Elias Fernandez. "Having two doubles teams making the quarterfinals and one in the finals is pretty huge for our programs. We are super excited for tomorrow's final. Lucy and Nastassia are playing some great tennis!"
Men's Singles:
The men's team would get off to a slow start in the singles main draw with Marcel Schomburg, Mateo Bivol, and Enzo Blavignat all falling in the first round on Friday. However, they would bounce back in the consolation bracket. Schomburg would defeat Carson-Newman's Marnix Van Dalen via a walkover before falling to Cedric Holzmann of Flagler in a super-tiebreaker 3-6 6-4 [10-7]. Blavignat would also fall in a super-tiebreaker by a score of 7-6(3) 4-6 [10-6] to Javier Crespo of Emmanuel College. Bivol defeated both Victor Nunez of Mount Olive and Thom Hermans of Lincoln Memorial 6-4 6-2 and by walkover, respectively, en route to an appearance in the consolation round of 16.
Men's Doubles:
In the doubles draw, the men would find early success on Friday. Blavignat and Bivol teamed up to defeat Masumi Komada and Enzo Sergi of Georgia College 8-6, and Schomburg paired with Lawrence Friedland to defeat Julio Polesi and Enzo Marcheschi of Southern Wesleyan 8-5. However, both teams would fall in the second round on Saturday.
Women's Singles:
The Women's team had no shortage of success throughout the tournament. Three players reached the third round in singles, and two doubles teams reached the quarterfinals, including the aforementioned Chamoun and Spice. This marks the first time that head coach Mark Gardiner has had any players reach the ITA Regional finals in either singles or doubles as well as the first time that he has had multiple players or doubles pairings reach the quarterfinals in the same draw.
In singles, all six women's players that participated in the main draw reached the second round, including three by way of a first round bye from seeding.
In the first round, Amy Griffiths would defeat Darja Christov of Emmanuel College in straight sets 6-1 6-4. Ish Singh defeated Francis Marion's Gabriel Karatantcheva 6-2 6-7(3) 6-1, and Lucy Spice took down Silvia Fernandez of Barton College by a score of 6-3 6-3.
The second round would provide even more interesting matchups. Zulay Castaneda defeated Alejandra Guerrero in three sets 6-4 4-6 6-0. Chamoun would defeat Spice in an all-Wolves matchup 6-2 6-3, but perhaps the most impressive performance of the round came from Singh, who upset 16-seeded Hannah Price of Carson-Newman 6-2 1-6 6-2. Griffiths and Judit Gonzalez Agud both fell in tight, three-set matches by scores of 6-7(3) 6-3 7-6(3) and 6-1 4-6 7-6(6), respectively. However, Castaneda, Chamoun, and Singh would all fall in the round of 32, concluding an impressive showing in the singles main draw.
Women's Doubles:
The doubles draw would be even more successful for the women's team. All three doubles teams would reach the second round, two pairing would reach the quarterfinals, and the team of Chamoun and Spice will play for the doubles title on Monday.
The team of Rosie Harfield and Griffiths defeated Kyriaki Mitsou and Evelin Menyhart of Lenoir-Rhyne 8-3 before falling in the second round.
After bypassing the first round with a bye, Castaneda and Gonzalez Agud went on a run to the quarterfinals, defeating Lauren Castillon and Shatavisa Ghosh of Emmanuel College and Camilla Ciaccia and Elena Gunfaus of Wingate by scores of 8-2 and 9-7, respectively. The team would see their run come to an end against the second-seeded pairing of Eden Schlagenhauf and Alessandra Hauf of Flagler 8-4 on Sunday.
However, the most impressive run of the weekend came from the pairing of Chamoun and Spice. The duo would start off their weekend by taking down Amanda Dahlstrom and Julia Valls of Lincoln Memorial 8-2 on Friday. They would then go on to upset eighth-seeded Elisa Aguirre and Lauri Alvarez Tello 8-2 before upsetting the ninth-seeded pairing of Anna Markvartova and Rafaella Villanueva of North Georgia in their closest scoreline of the weekend, 9-8(2), on Saturday. On Sunday, the duo would start their day off strong by taking down Carson-Newman's Price and Natasha Forrest by a score of 8-6 in the quarterfinals. They would then go on to defeat Valentina Abrile and Mariana Ramirez 8-3 in the semi-finals. They will face off against North Georgia's third-seeded pairing of Vaishali Jorge and Johanna Lippert for the doubles title Monday night at 8:30 a.m.
